YOUNG MEN AND THE WAR.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15156, 21 December 1914, Page 8

YOUNG MEN AND THE WAR.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE-PRESS." '" Sir, —I have just been reading Lord : !elt»rne r s remark that a young man fho is eound in body and has no greater call on him, and does not volunteer for the front, must be pronounced a shirker. I have also just returned from Christchurch, where I was struck by' tho number of young men loafing about the streets with a purposeless look. . Can it bo that the majority of them "are, "unsound" in body or character? I think not, and that it is oniy necessary for them to listen to the call of tho* Empire, and they will respond to it. They will return from the war men in the best sense, or they will have "iveu a man's life for God and liberty. T cannot help noticing the difference iv the.country, where many men are working farms with the smallest possible number of hands, working themselves when they have reached the age of rest, or paying for labour which they can ill afford, in order that their I *ons mar go to the front. .' One seems clear, namely, that no able-bodied "unemployed" man whs has no ties dependent on him, should be aided to continue in New Zealand if s he refuses to join the colour's. The length of tho war —the. restoration of peace and liberty—the recuperation of Belgium, and the righting of wrongs, depends largely on the number of men. Who wilt "shirk?"— Yours, etc., SOUTH CANTERBURY PARSON.